The recent tournaments have expanded the Heroes esports watching experience: with the permission of some tournament organizers, many teams are streaming their games from the players’ point of view. Why does this matter? Because for the first time in Heroes history, we're getting a comprehensive look at what's going on behind the scenes and seeing how the game is actually played at a competitive level.

For a game as casual as Heroes of the Storm, it's an immense opportunity to see the game through a different lens. It's been said before that Quick Match and pro play were entirely different games, and first person streams showcase this fact. Whether it's the rock solid coordination to collapse on enemies or an instantaneous team effort to commit (or back off) from an objective, competitive play through the eyes of the players opens up a brand new world for viewers.

The Origin

PoV streams are nothing new in esports. For example, The Overwatch League allows users with the All-Access Pass to have the perspective of all the players. Though Blizzard tried this out for Heroes at the Korean HGC, the initiative did not prosper, so it never arrived to the European and North American HGC leagues. For a long time, it was a gimmick that never really took hold.



Aside from the Korean case, the first team to systematically stream everything was Team Russia. In their preparation for the Nexus Contest, they streamed their scrims, but also their participation in the second season of Agon League, which they won. In fact, Stalk, the tank player for Team Russia and also the one streaming their games, pointed out the prohibition of first-person streams as one of the few negative elements of the Nexus Contest.

The revolution of PoV streams arrived with Washed Up. With JayPL, HasuObs and Mene in their ranks, they have some of the current biggest Heroes streamers. Almost 500 people tuned in the Nut Cup finals at HasuObs’ stream. The sum of every PoV stream at the finals supposed about a 20% of the total viewership (including broadcasted streams in different languages).

A Good Way To Learn

These first-person streams are useful in different ways for the Heroes audience. First, they are a didactical tool, so viewers can learn not only how to play a specific hero (any stream of these players could help with that) but also how pro players shotcall ingame and how they draft.

Moreover, these streams are also entertaining. In this way, they have the same role as the comms check we have seen in North America. They help to grow a fanbase for all the new teams that have recently appeared: you watch your favourite streamer regularly and then, when tournaments arrive you watch him play with his team, sharing their excitement. This is quite important, especially in Europe: as many players speak both English and their native languages in their streams, the local fanbase they’ve grown will also root for all the team.

Multiplication Instead of Division

Some people may see the appearance of this kind of streams as a threat, as they divide the viewership so the “big official stream” numbers are lower and in the end, it becomes harder for tournament organizers to get sponsors. That isn’t true, or at least, it doesn’t need to be true if things are done right.



First-person streams are an enriching experience for the viewers, so much so that in fact they should be encouraged rather than forbidden. To keep the numbers as big as possible, they can provide the viewers ways to follow both the PoV and broadcasted streams, such as multitwitch or allocating whichever streams they choose in their websites. They can even use the point of view streams to create content about their tournament, clipping highlights through the players’ eyes.

As Division S allows the players to stream their games, this trend will go on. Once it normalizes, it’s likely that more and more tournaments will support these kind of streams. Have a look at what all the fuss is about: these are a few of the more popular PoV players. Take a look, tell us any we’ve missed and share with us your favourites!